Ahinsak was a bandit who had decided to make a garland of thousand right hand human fingers. He used to hide in the jungle and attack and kill the nearby passengers, cut off their right-hand finger and then leave the corpses for the vultures to eat. He soon got named as Bandit Angulimala (anguli means fingers, mala means garland).

There came a time when Angulimala killed 999 people and was waiting for his final kill. When Gautama Buddha came to know of the bandit, he decided to enter the forest and help the bandit. The villagers warned Buddha but he went into the jungle. When Angulimala saw Buddha, he charged towards him to kill him and get his thousandth finger. Lord Buddha started walking away, but Angulimala couldn’t match up to the speed even by running. Angulimala ran as fast as he could but he could not catch up with Buddha. He shouted at Buddha and hurled abuses, but Buddha smiled kindly at him and continued his walk. After several hours, when Angulimala couldn’t run any further, Lord Buddha also stopped walking and started walking towards Angulimala. When they came face to face, Angulimala just stood still and went into a spiritual trance. Gautama Buddha spoke to him and instantly Angulimala threw his weapons away and requested Buddha to accept him as a disciple.

Lord Buddha agreed and that is how the great fearful bandit became a sage. The story of Angulimala is very significant story in Buddhist mythology as it talks of how a fearful dacoit became a sage with Lord Buddha’s contact.